Brian O'Neill, Pat Narduzzi talk quarterback Max Browne

The Roanoke Times is churning out some ACC football preview stuff with a look at the various programs in the conference. They put together a Pitt preview and a lot of the focus was on new quarterback, Max Browne.

There's not a ton there but both Pat Narduzzi and Brian O'Neill talked about Browne. One thing O'Neill said about Browne got my interest:

"He's not afraid to try to throw the ball into a tight window," O'Neill said. "Max is very good at going through his reads, from his first read to his second read all the way down to his check-down [receiver] — able to keep the play alive, not necessarily with his feet, but through his reads and being able to hit different players in different spots.

"I don't think there's a throw on the field he can't make."

Typically, I take things like this with a grain of salt. I mean, teammates won't generally offer much but praise for each other. But the specifics of what O'Neill says about Browne checking through, making his reads, and finding different guys will be important this year.

The Panthers do have deep threat Jester Weah and he could be one of the conference's top receivers. But the Panthers also have a gaggle of unproven guys that will need to make plays this year. That's particularly true now with the loss of assumed No. 3 man Tre Tipton for the season.

Not only that, but the other starting receiver, Quadree Henderson, has proven he still needs work. Much of what Browne does in the passing game this year might involve the need to repeatedly move off of his first option and find someone else if that receiver isn't open and if Henderson or another guy doesn't prove to be all that reliable at getting open.

With not much proven beyond Weah, having a quarterback work through his reads and looking beyond his primary target might be more important than usual this season.

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